Elysium
by Jenna Riedell
Summary: In a place where everyone is happy and everything is as it should be, why would you ever want to leave?
1. Chapter 1

_So there you all stand with torches and pitchforks, perfectly recreating the mob song in "Beauty and the Beast". And the only thing I have to say to that is… um, this isn't what you think it is? But anything I reveal about my intentions for this will be spoileriffic, so you're just going to have to trust me on this one._

_**PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE PROCEEDING ANY FURTHER.**__ The school system in this may seem a bit wonky, but that's because it loosely follows the Japanese school system – start school year in April, end in March. Grade school = grades 1-6. Middle school = grades 7-9. High school = grades 10-12. So though Sonic will be entering high school in this, he'll be going into tenth grade (sophomore year)._

_I hope you enjoy?_

* * *

_Sonic_

He woke to his brother's voice screaming in his ear.

"Good morning, sunshine! The earth says hello!"

"Sun's not even out yet," Sonic muttered irritably, flopping over onto his stomach.

"You can't know that!" Tails proclaimed with a dramatic gasp. "You didn't even open your eyes!"

"Well is it out?" Sonic retorted, cracking one eye open, hoping that the power of his glare could incinerate his little brother on the spot.

"You won't know until you get up!" Tails replied in an infuriatingly cheerful voice. Sonic curled in on himself as Tails pulled the blanket off him in one clean sweep. "Get up! You can sleep when you're dead!" Sonic made a noise oddly reminiscent of a dying whale. Tails promptly snatched one of the pillows propped up against the headboard and smacked Sonic with it mercilessly. "Come _on_, Sonic!"

Sonic was not at all nervous for his first day of high school. He liked people, and people liked him (or they seemed to anyway), so no problems there. Waking up at ungodly hours and sitting still for eight periods was going to suck major balls, though. Still, all necessary evils that made up one little hurdle on the Track Field of Life.

He could never conceivably answer the one question that plagued everyone his generation: what do you want to be when you grow up? Sure, they asked that time and time again, but now it actually _mattered_. And, just as it was for every time they asked him what he wanted to do with his life, Sonic still didn't know. Maybe he'd travel the world once he graduated. Maybe he'd start a rock band (but that required time and dedication and _effort_, which simply would not do). Maybe he'd just run and run and run until his feet finally gave out.

(Honestly? That didn't sound like such a bad idea.)

It baffled his peers to no end that he decided not to try out for Station Square High School's track team. His parents were more angry than shocked. "No ambition whatsoever!" his mother had ranted the day she suggested it to him. "And you'd actually be good at it too!"

His father had made a weird hand gesture that perfectly conveyed the full meaning of "blah," muttering: "What your mother just said."

Sonic had responded with a dismissive hand wave and a "meh, sounds boring."

Tails was waiting for him downstairs with a plate of eggs sunny side up with the yolks cooked all the way through – so in essence, they were just eggs – and a piece of toast that was more black than brown, except for the yellowish splotch of something Sonic was only half sure was butter. Sonic leveled the barely edible food with a flat stare. "Leave the cooking to me next time, kiddo."

Tails pouted adorably, and Sonic almost felt sorry that the middle school kids were going to decorate the eight-year-old's ass with their footprints. _Almost_. "If you had it your way, we'd be eating chili dogs for breakfast."

Sonic didn't bite into the toast so much as hack away at it with his teeth. "Hey, chili dogs make up a very important food group."

"You should open up a chili dog stand when you graduate," Tails suggested.

"Mom would die from high blood pressure," Sonic refuted. "While we're on the topic of matricide – that's kind of overkill, isn't it?"

"Nah," Tails replied, his mouth half full with eggs. Most would have found the site of chewed up yellow blobs of chicken fetus trapped in the cavern known as the mouth disgusting, but on Tails, it was rather endearing. "She's too tough for that." The blonde-haired boy swung his backpack over his shoulder and ran to the door. "I'm off! Wish me luck!"

"Remember, Tails!" Sonic called after him. "Assert your dominance!"

"I will!" Tails yelled from outside, the front door almost completely shut. "You can have my toast!" And with that, he slammed the door shut.

As Sonic stared at the uneaten piece of toast on Tails's plate – which was even blacker than his own, if possible – he couldn't help but wonder if his little brother was intentionally trying to poison him. He would certainly be capable of it – the kid was eight years old and about to start his first year in middle school, for crying out loud. Now what required less effort – throwing away his breakfast and then taking out the trash so that Tails wouldn't notice, or taking his breakfast with him and throwing it away on the way to school, so that Tails _still_ wouldn't notice?

Quickly deciding on the latter, Sonic slung his school bag over his shoulder with one hand and precariously balanced the plate of unfinished breakfast on the other, kicking the door open and leaving the house. Yup, high school was going to suck major balls. People were going to pester him to join clubs, and then his old friends from middle school would bug him about hanging out all hours, and if he didn't get at least an hour of homework and studying in every day, there was no way in the seven levels of hell that his mother would ever stop nagging him.

It was these negative thoughts that plagued him as he finally stepped into his classroom. It was almost full, since Sonic had taken care to arrive precisely two minutes before class started, but thankfully, there was still one window seat left open. He strode over confidently, reveling in the awed stares people gave him, like _Fuck yeah, my hair's really blue._ He dropped his bag by the desk and sat down, putting his feet on top of the desk and accidently kicking the person in front – a boy with red streaks in his dark hair.

The boy sitting in front of Sonic turned his head sharply to glare at him. "Do you mind?" he asked in an irritated voice. And then, Sonic's jaw dropped open.

Weren't you supposed to die when you saw your doppelganger or something? 'Cause this kid looked _way_ too much like Sonic. "Well hello there, handsome," Sonic greeted with a wave. The boy's eyebrows furrowed, and he turned around, refusing to dignify him with a response. _Well that's just rude_, Sonic thought.

And the boy didn't speak up for the rest of the period, choosing to peer out the window with his chin resting on the palm of his hand instead. When the class period finally ended, Sonic slinked over to him, sitting backwards on the seat of the desk in front of the moody, bitch-faced boy, and smirked casually at him. "You got a name, pretty boy?"

The boy raised his eyebrows at Sonic, then looked out the window again with a bored expression. Though he wore his uniform properly and all, there was something about him that just _screamed_ "troublemaker". Maybe it was his red eyes (colored contacts?) that probably scared off anybody and everybody else. Maybe it was his formidable demeanor that said in a cold, dead voice: _Leave me alone to die._ But for some reason, he answered. "Shadow," the boy said in a quiet, yet firm voice. "Shadow Robotnik."

Sonic grinned. "Is your hair naturally like that, or did you dye it too?" he asked conversationally.

Shadow fixed him with a flat stare. "What do you think?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeesh. No need to be such a whiny bitch about it."

"I refuse to dignify that with a response," Shadow retorted.

Sonic's grin widened. "I have the distinct feeling that we'll be best friends. Minstrels will sing ballads about us for years to come, regaling the awesome tale of our epic bromance."

"You really do have no filter between your brain and your mouth."

"Life's just more interesting that way." And then, an image crossed Sonic's mind. In retrospect, it made no sense whatsoever – the stars cartwheeling below him, impossibly enough, a pretty blue sphere standing calmly amidst the stars, Shadow by his side as they did… something. He didn't know what it was, but it was _definitely_ important. Maybe the world depended on it or something. And then, all too quickly, Shadow was gone, falling into the blue sphere below, and all that was left of him was a single golden bracelet hanging limply in Sonic's hand. "Yeah," Sonic said finally, shaking his head to clear it of the strange, yet somehow familiar image. "Bros for life. You and me. Definitely."

"Go to hell," Shadow said flatly.

"You're just saying that because you're completely enamored by the epic bromance that will soon be ours," Sonic replied.

And at that, Shadow was back to glaring at him. "No. _No_."

And then, Sonic burst into uncontrollable, slightly hysterical laughter, ignoring the strange look Shadow sent his way. But there was something else – a softening in the dark-haired boy's eyes, a release of tension in his shoulders – that told Sonic that Shadow didn't completely hate him. "Faker," Shadow said in a low voice.

"_You're_ the faker!" Sonic yelled back on impulse. And he couldn't explain, for the life of him, why, in that moment, everything felt so _right_ – more than it ever had in his entire life.

* * *

_If you had the patience to make it through to the end… please… review?_


	2. Chapter 2

_Silver_

"Shit, we're gonna be late," Silver cursed as he ran. "It's the first day of school, Blaze. We can be late every other day, but we _have_ to be on time on the first day. _And_ it's our last year here!"

"I don't recall any such rule," his purple-haired best friend replied flatly. She ran several paces ahead of him, and she wasn't nearly as out of breath as he was (that bitch).

"You were the one obsessing about your hair!" Silver accused.

"You need a haircut," Blaze retorted without looking once in his direction.

As if on cue, Silver's long bangs slapped his eyes, making them sting. "Quit changing the subject! Why did you have to dye your hair _this morning_? Couldn't you do it last night?"

"You would've probably skewered me if I did," Blaze deadpanned. They stopped running as they reached the school gates, walking slowly instead. "You said the last time I dyed my hair, and I quote, 'ain't nobody got time for that'."

"Who're you trying to impress anyway?" Silver asked. "Me? 'Cause it's not working."

Blaze elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut up. You have no idea how lucky you are. Your hair is freaking _beautiful_. Most girls would _die_ for your hair… no pun intended."

Silver scoffed. "Yours is too! … when it's not dyed _purple_! Seriously, though. Why purple? How are you _not_ delinquent-status already?"

"Did you seriously just say 'delinquent-status'? Wow, Silver. That's pretty nerdy, even for you."

Silver stuck his tongue out at her in retaliation. "Besides, people think I'm some freaky albino anyway. Even though my eyes aren't red."

"But your hair's so long and soft and _pretty_."

"It's a bitch to take care of. I think I'll cut it all off."

"You cut it, you die."

"You just told me to cut it five minutes ago!" By now, they'd reached the classroom, with less than thirty seconds to spare, and there were only two spots left open – two spots on opposite sides of the room. "This is your fault," Silver said flatly.

Blaze smiled sheepishly in return. "Sorry…" she said slowly. "Okay, I'll make it up to you. You get first pick."

"How exactly is that making things up to me?" Silver asked rhetorically, rolling his eyes. He glanced from one open seat to the other, frowning. One of the desks was in the back row, one seat away from the already occupied window seat. "That one," he said pointing to it.

Blaze giggled. "Nice pick," she said. "Of _course_ you'd take the one with the cute girl next to it."

"Girl?" Silver echoed. To be honest, he didn't even look to see who occupied the desks next to the empty one. Sitting by the window was a girl with strawberry blonde hair and the greenest eyes Silver had ever seen. She clasped her hands together, with her elbows resting on her desk, and she stared absentmindedly out the window. "Oh," Silver said. "Her. Is she new?"

"I guess so," Blaze replied. "I've never seen her before." The door suddenly slammed shut as the teacher shuffled in, and Blaze gave Silver a shove. "Go," she hissed urgently.

Silver practically sprinted to his seat, and the girl by the window gave him a smile that seemed to light up her whole face. Silver smiled back, though not quite as brightly, but the teacher began talking before either of them could get a word in. School was boring, and each subsequent period made Silver want to burn to death in a fiery inferno. Setting himself on fire to get out of school was growing more and more appealing as the last class of the day finally inched to a close, and Silver found himself packing up his schoolbag ten minutes before the period even ended. The girl approached him shortly after the bell rang. "Excuse me," she said. "Do you know where the faculty office is?"

"Yeah," Silver replied. "You just go up the stairs, and it's the second door on the left."

"Thanks," the girl said with a smile.

Silver smiled faintly before glancing around the room. People were already clearing out of the classroom, and one of those people was apparently Blaze. "Huh? Where's…"

The girl's face contorted into an expression that looked so out of place on her. "I'm sorry," she said. "Did you miss someone because of me?"

"Ah…" _Nice going_, Silver mentally chided himself. "It's okay. I'm sure she's still around here somewhere. I'll be able to find her."

Without warning, the girl clasped his hands with both of hers. "Well then, I'll help you!" she announced. "After all, two heads are better than one when looking for someone, right?" And then, she gave a shrill gasp, her eyes widening in something akin to recognition. She stared at Silver with a dumbstruck expression, then down at her hands, which were still clasped tightly around his.

"Uh…" Silver said slowly. "Didn't you say you needed to go to the faculty office?"

"Huh…?" the girl mumbled faintly. "Oh!" She forced a smile, and Silver wondered if he'd done something to offend her in anyway. "Y-Yeah, I do. Um… If you take me there, I can help you look for… whoever it is you're looking for."

"Yeah, that would be great," Silver didn't so much answer as let the words flow freely from his mouth. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something strange about this girl, though in a good way, if that made sense at all. Something that drew him to her. Something that made him want to stay by her side at all times, though not necessarily in a romantic way. "Uh…" It only just occurred to him that he didn't even know her name.

"Amy," the girl supplied helpfully. "Amy Rose. What's your name?"

"S-Silver," he replied shakily.

Amy smiled sweetly at him, more naturally this time. "That's a nice name," she said sincerely. "So let's go!"

"Ah – okay."

* * *

In the end, they didn't find Blaze, because the purple-haired girl had already gone home (and texted Silver about it twenty minutes into their search for his trouble). But it was in those twenty minutes that Silver made the second best friend of his life. Oh, he wasn't nearly as close to Amy as he was to Blaze – not yet, anyway. But that was very quickly becoming a reality.

To be honest, Amy's cheerfulness and positive attitude were downright _infectious_. If anything, it made him even more determined to do as much community service as possible in his lifetime so that people like her could just keep smiling. As it turned out, her parents recently divorced, and she moved to Station Square with her mother and siblings, after a relatively quick and painless custody battle. She had a little sister named Cream, an older brother named Big, two cats named Cheese and Chocola (apparently, naming things after food was a pretty huge deal for her sister), and a frog named Froggy (oh so creatively named by her brother). Her life sounded so _interesting_ compared to Silver's…

… and Blaze relentlessly teased him about it for the rest of the day. "You _like_ her," she said to him as she lounged on his bed.

"I do _not_," Silver refuted staunchly. "I just met her today."

"Dear god, next you'll be writing _love ballads_ about her. And _I'll_ be the test audience."

An evil idea came to him quickly. "Oh yeah, I already have one. Listen to this. _Amy, sweet Amy with your hair so thick, would you be a dear, and please suck on my_—"

"NO," Blaze said loudly and emphatically, bolting upright and waving her arms around frantically. Silver burst out laughing. "If she doesn't kill you for using that one on her, _I will_."

"You didn't even let me finish," Silver whined.

"I know how it ends!" Blaze shouted.

"Blaze," Silver said in a serious voice. "I was kidding."

"I hope so," Blaze replied in an equally serious voice. "But seriously, though. Do you like her?"

All Silver could do was shrug. "She's a nice person," he said blandly. "A _really_ nice person. She's fun to be around."

"So can I meet her?" Blaze asked.

"Why are you asking for my permission?" Silver deadpanned, his eyes narrowing. "She's not my girlfriend."

He _really_ didn't like that smirk on his best friend's face. "Not _yet_."

"Blaze!"

* * *

His dreams were strangely vivid that night, though he really wished his memories of them would fade just like the ones of all the others. In retrospect, _the_ dream made no sense whatsoever. He stood at a rocky cliff, overlooking a ruined city swathed in flames, with a sky clouded by ash and smoke hanging ominously above. Blaze stood before him, holding two sparkling gems – cyan and white – smiling at him in a bittersweet, sentimental sort of way. She was wearing her school uniform, and her hair – still purple, but somehow naturally so – was pulled back into a high ponytail. She looked so _normal_… but Silver could tell that something was seriously, horribly wrong.

Then, all of a sudden, flames swirled mystically around her, and her body began to glow. She closed her eyes and sighed, dropping the gems in her hands to the ground. As she slowly rose into the air, her body began to fade. "Blaze!" Silver shouted in panic, reaching out to her, but she was too far away.

She smiled warmly at him, like she did that time the upperclassmen picked on him during his first year of middle school, and she reached out to him. "Good luck, Silver!" she called. She rose higher and higher into the sky, and then disappeared entirely into a bright flash of light.

And at that moment, Silver jerked awake, panting heavily, his body drenched in sweat. He felt so sick to his stomach that he tumbled out of head and sprinted to the bathroom, and all the while, he couldn't stop shaking and crying. _It's not real_, he told himself as he heaved into the toilet. _It's just a dream. _It was this mantra he repeated over and over in his head until there was nothing left in his stomach to throw up, but he felt so drained that all he could do was lie there, crumpled on the floor.

He must have fallen asleep there, because the next thing he knew, he was lying in bed, and it was ten-thirty in the morning – three and a half hours after school was supposed to start. He didn't feel sick anymore, but he was still so, so tired. "Just rest today," his mom advised, under the impression that he'd probably just caught a twenty-four hour bug..

And, as soon as his mother left him alone, he called Blaze. In the end, he only got her voicemail, but hearing her voice – warm and happy and _real_ – was more than enough.

Blaze wasn't going to leave him.

* * *

_So there's finally a semblance of a _plot_… or a skeleton of one, anyway. If you're still here… please… review?_


	3. Chapter 3

_Knuckles_

"Yes!" Rouge yelled triumphantly, splashing the water up so that it hit Knuckles. "I win!" She stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

"You cheated," Knuckles accused, pushing his goggles up off his eyes.

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Knucklehead," Rouge replied fleetingly, pulling on the strap of his goggles and letting it go so that it smacked him in the forehead (she earned a nice death glare for her trouble).

"You started before me," Knuckles pointed out.

"You have no proof whatsoever," Rouge retorted.

"Seriously, why are we even here?" Knuckles asked. "Ditching class to go swimming? That's so gay."

"Only if you're a guy and you go with another guy," Rouge replied. "But since you're with me, you're a stud. Everyone's probably thinking that we're making out in a closet or something. Or having pool sex. Whatever floats their boat."

"Except we're _not_," Knuckles pointed out.

"Oh, Knuckles, I had _no_ idea that's what you wanted out of our relationship!" Rouge whisper-squealed (because getting caught in the pool when they were supposed to be in class would be all kinds of awkward). "M-My heart isn't ready!" Knuckles splashed a wave in her direction, and her face was promptly slapped with water. "That wasn't nice." And then her face was slapped with water again. "You know what? You have the romantic capacity of a teaspoon. Only a teaspoon would probably be more romantic than you are, 'cause they had to get the term 'spooning' from _somewhere_."

"What're you ragging _me_ for?" Knuckles demanded. "If you wanna be all cutesy with someone, get yourself a boyfriend!"

"I haven't found someone worth my time yet."

"You're way too picky."

"It's called _having_ _standards_."

"You'd suck their wallets dry."

"Not yours."

"I don't pay for your crap, so I don't count."

"All right, you rats!" a deep voice barked from a little ways away.

"Ooh, first years!" Rouge said mischievously, climbing out of the pool and pressing her nose against the wire fence, peering out into the track field. A group of thirty or so first years stood there in track suits, with a tall, broad-shoulder, silver-haired man staring down at them.

Knuckles rolled his eyes, but joined her anyway. "What are you doing?" he hissed. "We'll get caught for sure!"

"Shush!" Rouge whispered, waving her hand at him dismissively.

"You will refer to me as 'Commander,'" the silver-haired man ordered. "Or 'Sir'. Not 'Mr. Commander,' not 'Mr. Commander Sir,' not '_Commando'_. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Mr. Commander Sir!" the first years shouted simultaneously. Knuckles snorted.

"What did you just call me?" the Commander demanded in a low, dangerous voice.

"Yes, sir…" the first years mumbled.

"So who d'you think's gonna get on Commando's shit list?" Rouge whispered.

Knuckles scanned the crowd of first years, stopping at a boy with electric blue hair and a carefree smirk on his face. "I'm gonna go with Blue. You?"

"My money's on Black and Red," Rouge whispered. "Next to Blue." Knuckles was almost positive that the blue-haired boy had a twin; the boy with red-streaked black hair looked _way_ too much like him for it to be a coincidence. "Blue will probably do something stupid to get on Commando's shit list, but Black and Red will already be there by default, even if he doesn't exactly do anything wrong. Huh…"

Knuckles turned to stare at his frenemy, who was now tilting her head to the side. "What?"

"He's cute," was all Rouge said.

Knuckles scoffed. "Blue?"

"Black and Red," Rouge clarified.

"They both look exactly the same."

"No they don't. Black and Red has spikier hair, and Blue looks like a pompous little shit."

"Black and Red looks like an asshole."

"Maybe, but I doubt he really is."

Knuckles stared at her incredulously. "How could you _possibly_ know that?"

Rouge shrugged, a wistful smile on her face. "Just a hunch, I guess."

"All right, any questions?" the Commander finished, looking up from his clipboard.

Blue raised his hand high in the air. "Why are your eyes different colors?"

"And… there he goes," Knuckle deadpanned.

"What did I tell you?" Rouge retorted.

* * *

It was a sign. That was the only possible reason that Knuckles ran into Blue _again_, later that day. It really was just a coincidental meeting – Blue didn't watch where he was going, ran straight into Knuckles, and dropped everything he was carrying… which, in this particular incident, was just his school bag. "What the _fuck_ is your problem?" he practically snarled.

"Whoa there, big guy," Blue said, holding his hands up hesitantly. "Now why don't we just talk this out like nice, normal people? I'm sorry I ran into you. I don't know my own speed sometimes."

"Bullshit," Knuckles replied on impulse.

"You can't _possibly_ know that," Blue said flatly.

"Give me _one good reason_ why I shouldn't hang you from the flagpole by your _underwear_."

"Ooh, a patriotic wedgie! Creative. Really creative."

"All right, pipsqueak, let's go."

"Hey, hold up!" The only thing that stopped Knuckles from tossing this first year over his shoulder and making good on his threat was the vaguest feeling that Blue could quite competently dominate his ass. "I think we both got off on the wrong foot here, so let's start over. Hi. I'm Sonic. What's your name?"

Knuckles resisted the urge to groan. "Knuckles."

"Nice to meet you, Knuckles," Sonic replied very nicely, before bending down to pick up something on the floor. "Hey, you dropped your wallet." But before Knuckles could snatch it away from him, the younger boy opened it and grinned. "Wow, I did _not_ have you pegged as someone who's into older women."

"Give me that!" Knuckles yelled, swiping his wallet away and stuffing it in his back pocket.

Sonic sidestepped Knuckles's clumsy lunge, tripping him for his trouble. "Your girlfriend's kind of hot. You know, for an older woman."

"That's my _grandmother_, you _moron_."

Sonic's face paled visibly. "Oh… Uh…" He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "The resemblance is uncanny?"

"Get out of my face."

"Wait, don't be like that!" Sonic was actually tugging on his arm. Were it anyone else besides the exceedingly obnoxious first year doing so, it would have been almost cute. "I'm sorry!"

Knuckles froze as the strangest image flashed through his mind – him and Sonic, charging at each other and knocking each other backwards. Two sparkling gemstones fell from Sonic's pockets, and a strange hovering machine drifted over it, sucking the two stones into a blue light. Knuckles exhaled sharply, dispelling the image. "What do you want?"

"Uh…" Sonic answered slowly. "What I'd _really_ like is to be able to get home. Without pissing you off, preferably."

"It's a little too late for that," Knuckles practically growled.

Sonic gulped, and, before Knuckles could register what was happening, he took off running. "Wellitwasreallynicemeetingyoubye!"

"Wh-What…?" Knuckles whispered to himself, and it occurred to him much too late that Sonic was gone. "H-Hey, wait! Get back here!"

* * *

"Knuckles? Can you please get the box on the top shelf?"

The sound of his frail grandmother's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Sure, Grandma." If there was ever any constant in his life, it was his grandmother Tikal. When his parents died in a car accident when he was seven, it was Tikal that took him in without question. When he'd get into fights during middle school, it was Tikal who would scold him, while simultaneously bandaging his wounds and not so subtly preaching that violence and greed and pride never got anyone anywhere in life. And when he started hanging out a lot more with Rouge, it was Tikal who never once questioned if the two were dating (which they were _not_, and never would be).

So it was an understatement that Knuckles was a little miffed when Sonic oh so casually suggested that Tikal was his _girlfriend_. Because honestly? Tikal deserved someone much better than Knuckles would ever be for a husband. Still, Knuckles had to concede that Sonic was just kidding around and he really didn't _mean_ anything by it… but he _had_ to have known to treat Tikal with only the utmost respect.

… did he? How could he have possibly known? It wasn't as if he'd ever _met_ the old woman – Knuckles would have known if he did. But why did the idea of Sonic referring to Tikal with such disrespect, albeit indirectly, feel so _wrong_?

"Gah, stop it!" Knuckles chided himself. "I can't think about this anymore!"

"Can't think about what?" Knuckles dropped the cardboard box he was holding, and Tikal caught it with a smile. "Thank you, dear."

"It's nothing, Grandma," Knuckles said quietly.

"Now, now, you know as well as I do that that is the farthest from the truth," Tikal said, placing the cardboard box on the kitchen table. "You can tell me. What's on your mind?"

Knuckles pulled out a chair and plopped down unceremoniously. "Grandma… do you believe in déjà vu?"

Tikal raised her eyebrows. "Hmm?"

"I met this guy today," Knuckles elaborated. "A first year. We sort of ran into each other by accident, but…"

"You felt like you knew him from somewhere?" Tikal guessed.

"How did you know?" Knuckles asked, his eyes widening.

Tikal smiled serenely. "Well that _is_ the definition of 'déjà vu'."

"I don't remember meeting that kid anywhere," Knuckles ranted, "but I _know_ I've met him before." He groaned, tugging on his dreadlocks. "This doesn't make any damn sense!"

Tikal sighed and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I understand that you want answers for all these questions as soon as possible. But sometimes you just have to let the answers come to _you_. If you search too hard, you will run yourself to the ground, and all your efforts will have been for nothing."

"So you're saying I should just… forget about it?"

"No, don't forget about it," Tikal said quickly. "_Never_ forget. But push it to the darkest corners of your mind. Don't _dwell_ on it. And… talk to me, Knuckles. If it ever becomes too much to bear on your own."

Knuckles nodded, all his tension leaving with each time Tikal pat his shoulder. "Thanks, Grandma. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you."

He couldn't explain why such an innocuous little comment filled him with so much dread.

* * *

_So this chapter was _considerably_ less angsty than Silver's. I'm not exactly the most subtle writer ever, and you could easily compare my foreshadowing to being slapped in the face with a fish._

_On a slightly unrelated note, I am having _way_ too much fun writing this. So I really hope you're enjoying reading this more than I enjoy writing this. Please review!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Tails_

If his older brother ever got wind of his situation, Tails would never live it down.

For the most part, people ignored Tails, besides the odd stares he received on the first day that positively screamed: "Who let the kid in here?" In retrospect, he should have seen his situation coming from a mile away.

"Well come on, kid," the impossibly green-haired third year sneered. "I'm just here to collect a little down payment for not making your life a living hell here. No big, right?"

"I-I-I don't have any money I can give you," Tails stammered, stepping backward, only to meet a cool locker door behind him.

"Then your lunch money will have to do," the upperclassman said fleetingly, smirking. And at that, Tails felt a profound sense of dread. He was so much smaller than the bully – there was no way he'd ever make it out unscathed. Maybe he should have just stayed in grade school, in a class where everyone was his own age. Until…

"Leave him alone, you derfwad!"

It was one of those cliché moments that always seemed to happen in movies – a beautiful, spunky girl would stick up for the underdog, the underdog would inevitably fall for said girl while simultaneously battling a severe inferiority complex, and the two would live happily ever after for the rest of their days. But while the girl in question certainly was quite pretty, there was something about her that was a bit… off-putting. Actually, when Tails saw her in all her pink-haired (strawberry blonde, his brain insisted), green-eyed glory, all he could think of was hammers, anger issues, and what he was almost positive was a bipolar disorder.

The third year picking on Tails stopped, raising his eyebrows at the newcomer. "Hey, sexy."

The girl leveled him with a flat stare. "Um… wow. That's a thing, then. That people actually say. _Wow_."

The boy put an arm around the girl's shoulders, slinking over to her, and Tails wanted to laugh at the absolutely murderous expression she shot him. "The name's Jet," the boy introduced. "What do you say we… ditch class and head down to the skate park? I can show you a few neat tricks on my skateboard."

"Ew," the girl said simply. "No."

"Aw, sweetie, don't be like that."

"I will seriously smash your face in if you don't leave me alone this minute." Oh, the third year was actually pressing his nose together with the girl's. "This is harassment."

"Maybe, but who's stopping us?"

When the girl made good on her threat as her fist connected with Jet's stomach, nothing could stop Tails from dissolving into a fit of giggles. "Come on, kid," the girl said, putting her hands on Tails's shoulders and guiding him away from Jet. "Let's go."

"Amy, that was amazing!"

The girl giggled. "I know, right?" And then, she stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait a minute… How did you know my name?"

Tails stopped as well, frowning at the older girl in confusion. "Huh?"

"Tails, how did you know my name?" she asked again, more pointedly this time.

"Wait, how do _you _know _my_ name?" Tails shot back, his voice rising in panic.

Color seemed to drain from Amy's face. "Uh… I heard it somewhere."

"No, you didn't!" Tails refuted. "Only my big brother calls me that!"

"Oh…" Amy covered her mouth with one hand, and a dozen emotions Tails couldn't identify swirled through her eyes. "I didn't…" She sighed. "I'm an idiot."

"Um…" Tails mumbled awkwardly, staring up at her. "Well… It looks like we know each other from somewhere, so… no harm done, right?"

Her mouth formed a hard line, and she appeared to be clenching her jaw. "Yeah… No harm done…"

* * *

When Tails got back later that day, grabbing an apple and kissing his mother on the cheek before heading to his room, Sonic wasn't home yet. So, to occupy himself, Tails sat at the family computer, messing around with MatLab. All was going well until a single name flashed through his mind – _Eggman_.

Tails minimized the terminal and pulled up the internet browser. As usual, the Google logo appeared on the screen immediately, and Tails wasted no time at all typing in his search.

_Did you mean "egg man"?  
Displaying results for "egg man"_

Tails huffed in annoyance. Something was supposed to pop up. Something _should have_ shown up. He should have found _something_ detailing Dr. Eggman's latest exploits.

… and there it was. _Doctor_ Eggman. Someone Tails had to have known at some point. Someone who should have been there, but… wasn't, for whatever reason.

A flash of inspiration struck Tails yet again, so he typed in another name: _Robotnik_. This name won him results, and the topmost article was a report on a successful experiment – much too complicated for Tails to follow, though the eight-year-old strongly suspected that he would be able to understand it if he at least tries – conducted by a (currently retired) researcher at Station Square University – Professor Gerald Robotnik.

_Gerald Robotnik_. That name _certainly_ rang a bell.

Before Tails could try wrapping his head around this strange turn of events, the door swung open. "Hey, buddy!" Sonic greeted cheerfully. "I knew I'd find you here!" Tails's eyes bugged out at the boy standing behind Sonic – a boy with dark hair streaked with red, and cold red eyes.

_No… No way…_

"This is my new buddy, Shadow," Sonic introduced.

Shadow crossed his arms, and bent his head forward while closing his eyes. "I'm not your buddy," he said in a low voice that sent a chill down Tails's spine.

"_Sure_ you aren't," Sonic teased. "Bros for life, remember?"

Shadow snorted – actually _laughed_, or at least what _passed_ for a laugh by his standards. "Whatever."

"What're you looking at, buddy?" Sonic asked, making his way over to the computer.

"Nothing!" Tails yelped automatically, shutting down the internet browser and pulling up the terminal. "Nothing…"

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "If your age is on the clock, you're too young for porn, kiddo. I know you're learning all sorts of weird and wonderful things in middle school, but _seriously_."

"No!" Tails yelled. "I-I wasn't…"

Sonic leaned closer to him and whispered: "Talk to me later if you want the goods."

"I don't want any goods, Sonic!" Tails yelled in a panicked, slightly hysterical voice.

Sonic simply shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said as he left. And all the while, Tails couldn't stop shaking.

_Wh-What am I going to do…?_

* * *

"Amy—"

"Please don't say anything, Tails."

"Amy, I know—"

"I need more time. Please."

"But I—"

"It's not only us, Tails."

"I know. _I know_. But we can't just—"

"Please, let's just wait a little longer. I'm begging you."

"… Why?"

"Just… please."

"… Okay…"

* * *

Tails knew what he was doing was beyond creepy. If anyone saw him, they'd think he was stalking Amy… which was only partially true, and not for any reason they could conceivably think of. And were the circumstances any different, Amy would surely beat him within an inch of death.

But here she was, completely unaware of his presence, talking happily to a boy with a silvery ponytail and a girl with purple hair. _Silver and Blaze_, his mind supplied helpfully.

_That's why she wants to wait_, he thought as he walked away. _She's waiting for them… so I have to wait too. I'll wait for Sonic and Knuckles, just like they've always waited for me. If they won't open their eyes, then we'll solve this ourselves!_

* * *

_And here, I slap you in the face with a fish known as Plot. I fail at subtlety forever._

_Please review!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Shadow_

The longest-running argument Shadow Robotnik had ever had with his sister (if he could even call it that) went a little something like this:

Maria: "Shadow, you need to make friends."  
Shadow: "You're my friend."  
Maria: "I don't count."  
Shadow: "I don't see why not."  
Maria: "I'm serious, Shadow. You need a life."  
Shadow: "You're my life."  
Maria: "Ugh. You're worse than _Grandpa_. I swear, I have no idea how you two survive when I'm away at school."  
Shadow: "But you're not _dead_. You're coming back."

And, really, that was enough – that Maria would always come back to him, no matter how far away she was, no matter how many weeks passed by before she _finally_ had a free weekend. It was a nice little ritual Shadow had with his grandfather – they'd climb into Professor Gerald Robotnik's old pickup truck and drive down to the University of Soleanna, which was about three hours away, pick up Maria, and stop somewhere to eat on the way back. Maria would stay for the weekend before they made the journey again, only to drop her back.

But the University of Soleanna operated under a different system that meant that Maria started school about three weeks after Shadow did (lucky), which was why she was at home, spinning on the chair by her desk while Shadow lounged on her bed. "Stop nagging me," Shadow said in the closest he could ever get to a whine. "I made a friend."

"Who?" Maria asked. "That Sonic guy? You never stop complaining about him, so I don't think he counts."

"I hung out with him _today_," Shadow pointed out.

"You ranted to me about him for _two hours_ when you got back," Maria said. "Your argument is invalid." Shadow buried his face in the bedspread and groaned. "Okay, so I'm your friend. I'm not even going to be around anymore."

"Don't say that," Shadow said on impulse. "You still visit a lot."

"I'm going to be a second year, Shadow," Maria said. "I won't have _time_ to come home as much as I did last year." The blonde girl stood up and made her way over to her bed, lying down next to her brother. "It's not like you'll be _replacing_ me, or anything. That's the thing about friendship – you can always make more friends, but it doesn't take away from the friendships you already have." She giggled, teasing a strand of his hair with her fingers. "Besides – I'm your sister. It'll be a _lot_ harder than that to get rid of me."

Shadow rolled onto his side to face her. "Why do you have to leave?"

Maria smirked. "Are you going to _cry_ again, Shadow?"

"I didn't cry!"

Maria ruffled his hair affectionately. "_Sure_ you didn't."

* * *

Rouge was… a character. Shadow couldn't say when exactly they met and when exactly they became near inseparable – the line between those two instances was blurred enough to begin with – but either way, it happened. Sure, hanging out with Rouge was a perpetual game of let's-see-how-many-times-you-have-to-hit-on-Shadow -before-he-notices-and-or-reacts, but there was just something about her that felt… _right_.

Shadow and Rouge.  
Rouge and Shadow.  
(Team Dark?)

It had a nice ring to it.

But there was one thing Shadow _couldn't_ shake off – the fact that there was supposed to be someone else with them. That just the two of them felt… incomplete, almost. But every time he thought about who could possibly fill that third space, it would feel like someone was repeatedly slamming an axe into the back of his skull, and he'd be forced to drop everything and wait for his head to stop pounding.

And the strangest part? Rouge actually _agreed_.

When Shadow finally considered Rouge a close enough friend – which happened less than a day after he met her – he let her meet Maria. And if there was one thing that convinced Shadow that their camaraderie would last, it was the fact that Rouge _adored_ Maria. "You're so lucky to have a sister like her, Shadow," she said before she left that day.

"Thank you," Shadow said, only partially because he couldn't think of a more appropriate response.

"You better look out for her, okay?" Rouge said with a teasing smirk.

And at that little innocuous statement, something stirred in Shadow's chest – something unpleasant that filled him with an inexplicable sense of dread. Still, he nodded stiffly. "I will."

* * *

In his dreams, Shadow saw a laboratory that looked like it belonged in those cartoons he used to watch with Maria as a kid. He was running, with Maria's hand clasped tightly in his own, though he couldn't say what he was running _from_. All he knew was that they had to get to safety, no matter what, and that things would turn out very badly if they failed. And for a long while, that's all they did – just run and run and run. For some reason, Shadow wasn't tiring, but it was clear as day that Maria _was_. She was lagging, and Shadow could hear her panting, and it wasn't so much that she was running now, but rather that Shadow was dragging her with him.

Alarms blared in the background, but Shadow could no longer really hear them – but they were _there_, no questions asked. Heavy footsteps echoed through the halls, always from somewhere behind, and it quickly became apparent that Shadow and Maria were running _from_ these footsteps. "Find them before they escape!" a man's voice yelled.

"Escape from _where_?" Shadow wanted to ask, but he had the distinct feeling that he _knew_, deep down inside.

At long last, they reached an empty room – a dead end. There were strange contraptions everywhere – computers and machines and capsules that Shadow couldn't even begin to wrap his head around. "Quickly, Shadow," Maria said as she made her way to a keyboard. She pressed a few buttons, and a capsule opened. "Get inside." But the situation was so confusing and obscure and _random_ that Shadow couldn't bring himself to move. "Shadow, _please_," Maria begged. "Don't make me drag you in there."

Someone banged on the door. "Open the goddamn door!" a man's voice shouted.

"Shadow!" Maria said again. When he still failed to move, she rushed to his side and shoved him into the capsule before making her way back to the keyboard. A few more pressed buttons, and the capsule closed around him, and he was trapped inside.

The door opened, and there was a loud bang. Maria's scream echoed in his ears, and red bloomed across her blue dress. Shadow banged his fist against the capsule, but it refused to give way. "Maria!"

"Shadow…" she said weakly, putting her hands on a lever before her. "I beg of you… Please… do it for me."

"Maria!"

"For all the people… on that planet… give them a chance… to be happy…" As her legs gave way under her, she clutched the lever with all of her might, and it went down with her. "Sayonara… Shadow…"

The capsule fell, and Shadow's stomach dropped out from under him as he woke up, tangled in his bed sheets and drenched in sweat. And the worst part was that it felt like he hadn't woken up at all. "Shadow, are you okay?" Maria was sitting by his bedside, only she looked twelve instead of nineteen, and her body was translucent, fading into the darkness. "You were having a nightmare."

She reached out to him, and he wanted to scream because he could see through her arm. "You're not real…" he choked out.

But her arms circled around him quickly, and all too quickly, the illusion faded, and Maria was real and alive and _there_. "It's all right, Shadow," she whispered as she hugged him tightly. "It's over."

And really, that was enough. So when Shadow drifted off to sleep, with Maria by his side, running her fingers through his hair, he could honestly say he was perfectly content.

* * *

Shadow woke to Sonic poking him in the back of the neck with a pencil. "Good morning, sunshine," the blue-haired thorn in his side said with a careless smirk. All Shadow wanted was a _few minutes _of shut-eye before class started – was that too much to ask for? "What, that Rouge girl keep you up all night?"

Shadow took a lot of pride in his patience and tolerance, usually. But now, there was next to none. "Leave. Me. _Alone_."

"Aw, don't be like that."

"If you don't shut up, I'll throw you out the window."

"Fine, as long as you don't fall out yourself."

And… that wasn't the snarky, sarcastic response Shadow was expecting. Actually, on the contrary, Sonic's comment sounded _genuine_ and not quite as careless as all his others. Even stranger, when Shadow looked back at Sonic, his blue-haired doppelganger was staring at him blankly, with something akin to concern in his eyes – though why, Shadow had no idea. So Shadow scoffed and turned back to his own desk. "You're so weird."

"You know you love it," Sonic said, all smirks and snark again.

No, no one would be falling out of any windows today.

* * *

_Casually emerging from the depths of a week of no updates, only to _cripple you with feels_. … actually, part of the reason for the long absence was that this chapter was a little harder, though so much more enjoyable, to write. _

_So I'm trying to keep this relatively ship-neutral. I really am. But on the other hand, I have a lot of feelings about Silver/Amy, Shadow/Rouge, and Sonic/Blaze… and that might be leaking into this a bit. Let me know how unbearable the slightly unintentional ship tease is. _

_Please review!_


	6. Chapter 6

_So it's occurred to me that the continuity in this is a bit… fuzzy. So here's a rough layout so far:_

_Day 1: First day of school. Sonic meets Shadow, and Silver meets Amy. At night, Silver dreams about a world ruined by eternal flames and Blaze sacrificing herself to stop the flames. The dream traumatizes Silver so much that he becomes physically ill because of it.  
Day 2: Knuckles meets Sonic, and Tails meets Amy. Silver stays home from school because he is still reeling from his nightmare. Tails realizes that something is amiss, and that Amy is the only one of his friends that knows as much as he does, if not more, of what exactly is going on.  
Day 3: Tails confronts Amy, who insists on waiting until an indefinite time in the future before taking action. Respecting her wishes and finding a new resolve, Tails agrees to do the same. Rouge meets Maria. At night, Shadow dreams about Maria being shot to death before his eyes._

_So this chapter starts at the beginning of Day 3. Enjoy!_

* * *

_Blaze_

If there was one thing Blaze hated more than anything else in the world, it was being locked out of the loop. And, given how Silver was acting, there was _clearly_ something going on to which Blaze was not privy. "Really, Silver," she said with an annoyed huff that morning. "What's going on?"

Her best friend's face was still too pale, despite the fact that he'd apparently spent all of yesterday in bed. Not to mention, he appeared a lot more… sullen, somehow. Like it wasn't so much that he was sick, but rather that he was extremely stressed out about something. And somehow, that was so much worse than just having the stomach flu. "Nothing's going on," he said in a deceptively calm voice.

But Blaze knew better. "Bullshit. Tell me what happened."

Silver groaned and slapped his forehead. "All right, you want all the gross details? Okay. I woke up at around three in the morning feeling sick to my stomach, and I had to throw up, so I ran to the bathroom. When I _stopped_ throwing up, I fell asleep in the bathroom, and when I woke up again, I was in bed, and my mom had already called me in sick at school. I didn't throw up again after that, but I still felt really… woozy."

But something else clearly happened – something that he was deliberately leaving out. And really, Silver was as stubborn as a mule, and not always in a good way. There was no way Blaze would ever get the truth out of him if she asked him outright. However, Silver was also exceedingly _naïve_ – if she beat around the bush enough, asking for miscellaneous information that was only barely tied to the issue at hand, he'd answer completely honestly without suspecting a thing. "Why did you call me?"

"Huh?"

"You called me during class yesterday. I mean, my phone was on vibrate, so no one heard it or anything, but still. You should've known I'd be in class."

Silver chuckled nervously, and Blaze didn't miss the way tension settled in his shoulders. "Sorry, I must've butt-dialed you or something."

Yes, he was definitely hiding something. "Why are you lying to me?"

"Blaze…"

"You know what? Forget it." Blaze knew she was getting irrationally angry, but at the moment, she didn't really care. "If it's _so_ personal that you can't tell me, then that's _your_ problem."

"Blaze, I—"

"Don't. Worry. About it."

You couldn't have cut through the tension between them with the sharpest knife in the world.

* * *

At the end of the day, Blaze really hated Silver, and she felt no shame whatsoever in admitting it. She avoided him that day, and he'd repeatedly cast anxious glances in her direction, as if wondering what it was that he _possibly_ did wrong. But by the end of the last period of the day, those anxious looks had turned to sad ones, and Blaze almost felt guilty for giving him the silent treatment. _Almost_.

So she decided to talk to him again, now that she felt much calmer herself, but decided to hang back when she heard Amy start speaking to him. "Are you okay?" the girl asked worriedly.

"Huh?" Silver said quietly. "Oh… yeah… I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Amy asked, clearly not convinced.

"I just…" Silver sighed, and Blaze could see all the tension and worry settled in his shoulders. "I just have a lot on my mind."

And then the irrational anger was back. Here he was, ready to spill his guts to a girl he barely knew, instead of his own best friend. Admittedly, she hadn't done much that day to really invite him to talk about anything that was bothering him, but _still_. He should have _known_. "So why didn't you say anything about it?" It took her an embarrassingly long time to realize that she was the one who spoke. Silver stared at her, dumbfounded, though Amy's expression was… something else. It was like she was trying to reprimand Blaze with her eyes alone, as if she _knew_ that Blaze was angry with Silver and demanding that Blaze make up with him right this very minute. "I wish you'd just told me," Blaze said lamely.

Silver looked downward as his face seemed to grow a couple shades paler. "It's really not that big of a deal…"

"Hey…" Amy said slowly. "Do you guys wanna come over right now? I mean, if you're free."

Blaze looked to Silver uncertainly. "Both of us?" she asked.

Amy nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, of course!"

Silver smiled for the first time that day. "Sure!"

* * *

"So, you guys want anything to eat?" Amy asked. "I'll go grab some crackers and juice, if that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine," Blaze said.

"Sure," Silver said soon afterward.

Amy smiled brightly at them both. "Great!"

And it occurred to Blaze right after Amy had shut her bedroom door that she and Silver were being left alone on purpose, to work through any problems they had in relative privacy. "Whatever it is that I did, I'm sorry," Silver said. And his voice just sounded so quiet and so broken and so _lost_ that Blaze felt horrible for putting him through all this emotional turmoil.

"Why won't you trust me enough to tell me what's going on?" she asked instead. "_That's_ why I'm mad – you just won't tell me anything."

"It's…" Silver exhaled sharply. "It's complicated."

A thought suddenly struck Blaze. "Oh no, you're not going to confess your undying love for me, are you?"

"Wh-What?" Silver asked. "No! Where did you get _that_ idea?"

"Well, you've been acting weird all day!"

"I wouldn't want to go out with you! It's practically incest!"

Blaze pinched the bridge of her nose. "I _so_ didn't need that image, Silver."

Silver sighed again. "Okay, so do you really want to know what it is? Fine. I had a nightmare that I can still remember really clearly. It was about you, and I still can't get over it."

Blaze wanted to ask what the nightmare was about, but she had a feeling that Silver wouldn't tell her. "It was just a dream," she said simply. "Nothing to worry about."

Silver shook his head. "It felt so _real_, though. I mean, come to think of it, what happened in it was impossible, but… It felt like something like that actually _happened_, you know?" He groaned. "Sorry. I know I sound crazy."

Blaze smiled wistfully. "Don't worry about it."

Suddenly, the door opened. "Amy, Big wanted to know if—" A small girl with blonde pigtails opened the door slightly and peeked into the room. "Oh… um…"

"Amy went downstairs," Silver said helpfully. "She'll be back soon."

"Okay!" the girl said cheerfully. Suddenly, a small white cat squeezed through the crack between the door and the wall and wriggled into the room. "Cheese!" And without warning, the cat cuddled up against Blaze, nudging her hand and demanding to be pet. "I'm so sorry! Cheese, get back here!"

"N-No, it's okay," Blaze said slowly, stroking the small cat's head.

Amy chose that moment to return. "Oh hey, Cream. Silver and Blaze, Cream; Cream, Silver and Blaze."

"Uh… it's nice to meet you," Silver said.

But the small girl made her way over to Blaze and stared at the older girl square in the eye. "Have we met before?" she asked.

Blaze frowned slightly. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh…" Cream said quietly. "Never mind…"

"Cream, you're welcome to join us," Amy said pleasantly.

And Cream's despondent expression was gone as quickly as it had come. "Okay!" the small girl said cheerfully as she sat down next to Blaze.

And at that moment, for Blaze, things felt _right_.

* * *

"Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to knock you over."

"It's okay. Really."

A boy with impossibly blue hair and bright green eyes stood before her, looking slightly startled. Judging by his uniform, Blaze could tell that he was in high school, and yet he didn't look that much older than her. Maybe he was a first year. "Are you okay, though?"

He held his hand out to her, and Blaze took it to stand up. "Yeah. I'm fine." She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something strangely familiar about this boy. And somehow, Blaze felt _comfortable_ with him, which was strange in and of itself, since she didn't feel this comfortable with anyone but Silver… come to think of it, she felt this comfortable with Amy's sister Cream, more so than with Amy herself. Just what was going on?

The boy tilted his head to the side. "Huh," he said slowly. "So it's with you too."

Blaze's expression barely changed. "Excuse me?"

"Déjà vu," the boy elaborated. "I've been getting it a lot lately. First with this guy in my class, then with this upperclassman who almost beat the shit out of me… and now with you. It's just weird."

"Well you _do_ seem somewhat familiar," Blaze said. "Have we met before?"

The boy frowned slightly. "I don't think so. At least, I don't remember meeting you anywhere."

"I don't remember meeting you either." Blaze sighed heavily. "This is… strange."

The boy outright laughed at that. "You said it, Blaze."

And somehow, when he said her name, Blaze couldn't find anything wrong with the situation. "You know my name."

"Huh?" This caught the boy's – _Sonic_, a voice whispered at the back of her mind – attention. "Didn't you say it?"

Blaze frowned. "I'm sure I didn't introduce myself." _Sonic, Sonic, SONIC_, her mind persisted. "… Sonic…"

"Yeah, that's my name," the boy said before smirking mischievously. "So we know each other's names without having to introduce ourselves? We're probably connected or something."

Heat bloomed across Blaze's cheeks. "I-I seriously doubt that…"

Sonic laughed again, but Blaze somehow couldn't bring herself to feel embarrassed. "C'mon, I'll walk you home," he said casually. "I mean, I already made you swoon at my awesomeness today."

Blaze rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself."

And, as Sonic walked with her, Blaze couldn't help but wonder why she now felt more comfortable with him than she ever had with Silver.

* * *

_So here's a quick recap of everyone's chapters, now that things are about to come to a head:_

_Sonic: "Lalalaaaa first day of school, why hello there, déjà vu."  
Silver: "Wheeee first day of school, made a new friend, and HOLY SHIT WHY."  
Knuckles: "Underclassmen suck. And don't mess with my grandma."  
Tails: "Holy shit, we're all going to die."  
Shadow: "My sister is more awesome than yours. And nightmares where she dies suck major balls."  
Blaze: "WHAT THE FLYING FUDGESICKLE IS GOING ON?"_

_So this chapter was perhaps the hardest to write so far because… well… there's not much going on in this chapter. And yes, I'm aware that Blaze is a little too perky in this story in general. There is a reason for this, but I may or may not be characterizing her poorly at the same time. Let me know._

_Please review!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Amy_

Amy knew things were about to get very, very complicated from the second Tails sought her out that morning. "Haven't we waited enough?" he asked her, his voice a half-whine.

"Tails…"

"No! I know this is hard, but—"

"It's not just Silver, okay? It's…" Amy sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. "It's Blaze too. She's just so… _happy_ here. It's like she feels free to act however she wants. Normally she's so reserved…"

"Yeah, but that's—"

"And what about Shadow? He's here too, right?"

Tails averted his eyes downward. "Yesterday, I heard him telling Sonic about his sister… Maria."

Amy smiled sadly. "That's what I thought. And Knuckles and Rouge?"

"I haven't seen or heard from either one of them," Tails replied. "But I'm pretty sure they're here too. Actually, it looks like the only one who's _not_ here is Omega."

Amy exhaled sharply. "If we're… If we're really going to tell everyone everything today, then we'll need to get them all together."

"That'll be easy," Tails said. "You bring Silver and Blaze, and I'll ask Sonic to bring Shadow, and Shadow can bring Rouge, and Rouge can bring Knuckles."

Amy nodded slowly. "Okay…"

"It'll be okay, Amy," Tails said, smiling gently at her. "You'll see."

"I hope so…"

And, in the end, everyone came. Amy didn't want to know what excuse Tails fed Shadow to convince him to bring Rouge and Knuckles with him, but, needless to say, they were all there. Silver was sitting quietly next to Blaze, looking despondent as she conversed with Sonic. Knuckles and Rouge were bickering, as usual, with Knuckles grumbling about the whole meeting being a waste of time and Rouge poking fun at him at every opportunity. Shadow stared intently at Amy, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if trying to figure out something about her, and she realized for the first time just how _strange_ it was that everyone was _human_.

"Okay!" Tails said, clapping his hands and calling attention to Amy and himself. "So we called you all here today to discuss something really important."

"Um…" Amy said self-consciously, and Silver frowned at her in concern. "This is gonna sound totally random, but… have you guys been experiencing some déjà vu lately?"

"You know the cause of it?" Shadow asked in a low voice.

"Y-Yes," Amy answered shakily. "Well… we _kind of_ do."

"Basically, we know the _how_, but not the _why_," Tails explained.

"So tell us, then," Knuckles said. "What's going on?"

"Um…" Amy mumbled. All too quickly, she could feel her resolve wavering, and she turned to Tails for support. "I can't do it. I'm sorry."

"Amy…" Tails said quietly.

"None of this is real… is it?" Blaze quipped.

"B-Blaze?" Amy whispered.

"I've suspected it for a while," Blaze said. "Ever since our discussion yesterday, Sonic."

"Say _what_?" Rouge shrieked.

"Wait a minute!" Silver interjected. "So this is all fake? We're all…"

"This entire world is fake," Tails elaborated, "and the only part of reality we were able to hold onto was the fact that we all somehow knew each other."

"So that explains the déjà vu…" Shadow mused.

"Wait, so if this is fake," Sonic said, "then how did we get here? What's going on in the real world? What _is_ the real world?"

"Before we answer that, just try to remember what you're like in the real world," Amy begged. "It'll be easier that way."

"Okay…" Sonic said uncertainly, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration as he stared off into the distance. Then, suddenly, he jumped up, and his eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa!" Collecting himself, he stared down at his very _human_ hands and raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What the _hell_?"

Amy nodded sadly. "Yeah…"

"So Eggman's behind this?" Sonic asked, and his eyes were shining with so much clarity that Amy almost fell in love with him all over again.

"That's what we think," Tails said. "But to subject us all to… _this_ would require a lot of power."

"The Master Emerald!" Rouge gasped. "Wait… Sorry, I just said the first thing that popped in my head. I'm still not sure what's going on."

"Probably because nothing much changed for you here, Rouge," Tails said. "In this world, you didn't get back anything that you lost in the real world. At least, I don't _think_ you did. But that's probably right, unless Eggman somehow got ahold of all seven Chaos Emeralds."

"So Maria…" Shadow whispered. Amy's heart broke as his face contorted into a grimace, and he squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. "Damn it…"

"Shadow, I'm so sorry…" Amy whispered.

Shadow shook off his grief as quickly as it came, putting on a stoic mask. "So where do we go from here?" he asked. "What do we do? You both seem to have a clearer idea of what's going on than the rest of us."

"We're not really—" Tails began.

"Wait a minute!" Silver yelled. "Why do we have to leave? If we're all happy here, then we can stay, right?"

"But Silver…" Amy said quietly.

"We can't," Blaze finished, and her voice was so hard and so blunt that Amy found it hard to believe that she and Silver were formerly best friends in this world. "Are you an imbecile, choosing an illusion over reality?"

"Blaze!" Amy exploded. "Stop it! Leave him alone!" She sighed exasperated. "I know this is really confusing and frustrating, but if we're ever going to fix this, we'll all have to work together."

"Hello?" Rouge drawled. "How _are_ we going to fix this? Any ideas, anyone?"

"B-Blaze…" Silver said in a breaking voice, and Amy just felt so bad for him at that moment that she seriously considered staying in the illusory world with him, if it would make him happy."

"You with us, Knucklehead?" Sonic asked. "You've been quiet lately."

"So Grandma isn't real either, huh?" he asked in a low voice.

"Grandma?" Sonic echoed. "Who's your grandma?" Realization suddenly dawned on his face. "Oh, that old lady in the picture. But if this world gives us back things we missed… I didn't know you had a grandma."

"I _don't_ have a grandma," Knuckles said. "So why do I have one _here_?"

"What's your grandma's name?" Tails asked gently.

"Tikal, but—"

"TIKAL!" Sonic shouted triumphantly. "That's it! She can help us out of here!" Shadow, Rouge, Silver and Blaze regarded him with blank looks. "Okay, so a lot of you weren't there then, but there's this girl's spirit inside the Master Emerald… or at least there _was_. I didn't know she was still there."

"But she _shouldn't_ be," Tails said. "And neither should Chaos. They both disappeared together, remember?"

"So does that mean she's just another fake?" Amy asked.

"Hey," Rouge interjected. "I don't know who this Tikal person is, but if she really knows you guys, then she'll remember you, even if she's never met you in this world."

Sonic raised his eyebrows questioningly at Amy and Tails. "Well?"

Amy sighed and Tails shrugged. "It's worth a shot," they both said simultaneously.

* * *

And that was how they all ended up spending their day in Knuckles's (makeshift) home, with his grandmother pouring them cups of tea and laying out cookies in front of them. Silver, Amy, and Knuckles occupied the couch in the living room, leaving a space open for Tikal. Blaze sat in a chair near the empty seat, with Sonic sprawled out on the floor next to her. Tails sat next to Sonic with his legs crossed, rocking back and forth anxiously, and Shadow sat a little ways away with his knees drawn to his chest, frowning at nothing in particular. Rouge lay on her stomach next to Shadow, looking at everyone with varying degrees of confusion and anxiousness painted on her face. No one said a word – mainly because they had no idea what to say in the first place.

And as Tikal brought out a tray of teacups for the group, sitting down next to Knuckles with one for herself, Amy's mind was in a whirl. There was no guarantee that Tikal would be able to help them. Blaze knew perfectly well what was going on, and she was trying to readjust to her real-world personality as a result. Because, apparently, no one else could be bothered with her being _happy_ and trying to act like a normal girl. And then there was _Silver _– he was just as lost and confused as Amy was, if not more so. And he actually had things to lose in the transition from the fake world to the real world.

"So," Tikal said with a placid smile. "Who wants to start?"

Shadow, Rouge, Silver, and Blaze looked to Sonic immediately. "You guys suck," the blue-haired boy grumbled. He cleared his throat and smiled nervously at the old woman before him. "Hey, Tikal. I don't know if you remember me, but—"

"I already know who you are," Tikal cut him off, her smile never wavering. "I know who all of you are. I enlisted your help at some point, didn't I?"

"Well, not Shadow, Rouge, Silver, and Blaze," Tails pointed out. "But me, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy, definitely."

Just then, it occurred to Amy how strange this situation was – wasn't Tikal supposed to be a young girl instead of an old woman? "I don't get it," she said. "I thought you disappeared back then. Sorry, it's just… after Chaos…"

"Our souls may no longer be encapsulated in the Master Emerald," Tikal explained, "but our souls will always be inextricably tied to it. I came here with the sole purpose of helping you all when and if you awakened to reality.

"What do you mean 'if'?" Blaze asked.

Tikal's smile widened, and it sent a shiver down Amy's spine. "If you continued to live in blissful ignorance for much longer, Chaos would have had to interfere."

"Wh-What, you mean like an apocalypse or something?" Knuckles stammered.

Tikal nodded. "Precisely." She set her now empty teacup down on the table and stood up, smoothing out her dress. "When you are ready, please gather around me." Everyone obeyed without question, circling around the old woman. "Link arms." Amy slipped one hand into Silver's and the other into Sonic's staring at Tikal anxiously. She had no idea what the spirit was trying to do, or if it would work at all. If it didn't work, would everyone be able to go on with their lives as they had in the illusory world? No, that was impossible – too much had changed, and too much had been revealed. "Repeat after me: the servers are the seven Chaos."

Amy closed her eyes and squeezed Sonic and Silver's hands. "The servers are the seven Chaos…" everyone whispered.

"Chaos is power."

"Chaos is power…"

"Power is enriched by the heart."

"Power is enriched by the heart…"

"The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos."

"The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos…"

When Amy opened her eyes again, the world around her was dissolving into white. "Wh-What's happening?" Silver gasped.

"This fake world is disintegrating…" Shadow mused. "A grand deception on this scale couldn't _possibly _be powered by the Master Emerald alone…"

"That's right. I stopped the seven Chaos Emeralds to free you all." Instead of an old woman, the Tikal that stood before them was the same young echidna girl Amy remembered. When she looked at her friends, she noticed that they were no longer human either. "Now please listen to me. This world is out of joint. Certain events that transpired and erased from existence are now resurfacing, and the world is facing a paradox of epic proportions."

"A paradox…?" Blaze whispered.

"One of you holds the key to the truth," Tikal said. And with that, the entire world faded into white.

When Amy could finally see again, she noticed that she was in what appeared to be a laboratory of some sort – Dr. Eggman's, no doubt. Sonic stared at his slightly shaking hands, clenching and unclenching them. "Wow…" he whispered.

But then Shadow and Blaze walked off in different directions, and Silver sank to his knees. "W-Wait!" Amy cried. "We need to—"

"Let them go, Amy," Tails said. "They were the ones that had something they lost in the fake world, remember?"

Amy clamped her mouth shut. Of course – Maria, and a normal life free from the influence of the Sol Emeralds.

Rouge exhaled sharply. "So…" she drawled. "Where do we go from here?"

* * *

_So I finally got around to updating this, and, just FYI, this story is FAR FROM OVER. There is a LOT more angst and pain and fun times coming up. THIS STORY IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING. So PLEASE REVIEW and stay tuned! :]_


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